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A fundraiser Mitt Romney held Wednesday for New Jersey state Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R) brought in $400,000, a campaign aide said. Romney traveled to Bernardsville, N.J., for the $5,000-per-plate dinner, where about 80 supporters showed up. A close friend and ally of Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.), another Romney backer, Kyrillos is running to unseat Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is seeking his second term in the Senate. Christie has been fundraising for Kyrillos, too, but Menendez has a more than 4-to-1 advantage over Kyrillos in cash on hand.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) comfortably leads his likely Republican opponent, state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), by 10 percentage points in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll made public Monday. If the election were held today, 43 percent of voters would cast a ballot for Menendez, while 33 percent would vote for Kyrillos. Another 23 percent say they’re not sure whom they would pick.

Several Democratic senators are calling on the Obama administration to allow Syrians who are already in the United States to stay, at least temporarily, out of concern it would be "too dangerous" for them to return home. The senators want President Obama to invoke what's known as "temporary protected status" for thousands of Syrians in the U.S. The designation typically is given to foreign nationals whose home countries are beset by war or natural disaster and who could face harm should they return. The senators argued that Syrians in the U.S. are in just that kind of predicament, as Syrian...

When a Democratic president nominates a federal judge from a state with two Democratic senators — and the Senate itself is controlled by Democrats — a speedy confirmation hearing typically follows. But in an unusual case of intraparty defiance, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is holding up President Obama’s nomination of a judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the only time a Democrat has tried to block one of Mr. Obama’s judicial nominees. Mr. Menendez would not comment. But the nominee, Patty Shwartz, has been in a relationship for more than two decades...

... an examination of the American tax code indicates that oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses, with tax breaks available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process. According to the most recent study by the Congressional Budget Office, released in 2005, capital investments like oil field leases and drilling equipment are taxed at an effective rate of 9 percent, significantly lower than the overall rate of 25 percent for businesses in general and lower than virtually any other industry. And for many small and midsize oil companies, the tax on capital investments is so...

If you have been following the recall movement against Senator Menendez, you will have heard the Senator claim that the recall movement against him is “unconstitutional.”   However, the New Jersey Constitution expressly establishes that all elected officials, including United States Senators, are public servants of the People,  and the People retain full political power.  It clearly states: “All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it.” On November...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is telling Democratic campaign managers to drive a wedge between moderate voters and tea-party-style conservatives to take advantage of tensions within the Republican party, a report in Politico said. Menendez is distributing a memo to managers to take control of their Republican opponents' image early, and to make apparent the pressure Republican candidates feel from what he calls the "extreme right," according to the report. The memo from the DSCC said campaigns should ask upfront questions on issues the so-called tea party movement has taken, such...

The Lou Dobbs-for-Senate rumor had barely crested when the Lou Dobbs-for-president rumor suddenly overtook it this week. Mr. Dobbs, the former cable television anchor of the sonorous voice and tough-talking immigration politics, parted ways with CNN on Nov. 11, reportedly receiving an $8 million severance payment, and immediately stirred questions about his plans. His name was quickly floated as a potential challenger in 2012 to United States Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat, an ardent advocate for immigrants’ rights and the chamber’s only Hispanic member. (Mr. Dobbs, 64, lives on a horse farm in rural Wantage, N.J.) Then, on...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

Will Congress pass it? Will America buy it? The immigration battle in our country has just begun that's for sure. But another battle getting less attention is the battle to make America's most powerful institutions more diverse. In many ways the immigration deal and the record breaking Census Bureau figures also released yesterday that say that America has become more diverse, with minorities topping 100 million for the first time in 2006, go hand in hand. So as Congress struggles with immigration reform, the population of the United States is growing increasingly darker. Our lawmakers and society at large need...

Will the arrests of three illegal immigrants in an alleged plot to attack Fort Dix, N.J. hurt the effort in Congress to pass a major immigration bill? Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said Thursday it would actually help the case for the legislation. “It makes it more compelling. I would rather know who is here in America to pursue the American dream versus who is here to destroy it,” he said, in a conference call with reporters. An immigration reform that requires all current illegal immigrants to register with the government and go through background checks “creates for...

Vice President Cheney will be the main attraction at a fundraiser in Newark tonight for Republican U-S Senate hopeful Tom Kean (kayn) Junior. Kean expects to raise about 200-thousand dollars at the event. Some 200 guests are to pay one-thousand dollars each to hear Cheney. And those responsible for bringing in ten-thousand dollars in donations can get their picture taken with the vice president. Cheney's visit comes as the son of two-term governor is scrambling for money to compete against the Democratic incumbent, Robert Menendez. Menendez has more than four (m) million dollars compared to more than 860-thousand for Kean....

If the election for United States Senator was held today, whom would you support Robert Mendenez, the Democrat or Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican? Tom Kean Jr. 33% Robert Menendez 28% Undecided 39%

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Republican State Sen. Tom Kean Jr. has an 11-point lead over Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez in this year's battle for the U.S. Senate seat, according to a poll released Monday. Asked whom they would vote for if the election were held today, Kean received 36 percent to Menendez's 25 percent, while a whopping 37 percent said they did not know who they would support, said Peter Woolley, director of Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll. "Not only is it early in the election cycle, but neither of these candidates has ever mounted a statewide race," Woolley said....

Robert Menendez Links Kay Licausi's Gold Mine?Former Aide to Congressman Robert Menendez Gets hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. The Feud Between Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham and Congressman Robert Menendez Learn More About Congressman Robert Menendez Hudson County Politics Message Board Main Menu

Governor-elect Corzine’s appointment of Congressman Robert Menendez to fill the remaining year of his U.S. Senate term was no surprise. Corzine had been signaling the Menendez appointment since he jumped into the governor’s race a year ago. In all the press reports about the life and career of Bob Menendez, he is always identified as the son of Cuban immigrants. The implication is that Menendez’s parents fled Castro-ruled Cuba. In yesterday’s Record columnist Mike Kelly writes, “As the son of Cuban –American parents, who fled the brutal hand of Fidel Castro…” stating in no uncertain terms that Menendez’s parents arrived...

In 1998.....Kay Elizabeth LiCausi, a 26-year-old graduate of Rutgers....started a job as scheduler.......for Representative Robert Menendez (D-NJ).....who was soon to become the highest-ranking Hispanic member of Congress. She quickly gained his trust, and less than three years later was promoted to director of his NJ headquarters. But in 2002..... Ms. LiCausi left his staff. Since then.......She has amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts as consultant, lobbyist and fund-raiser. Some of the work was orchestrated by Mr. Menendez, who steered more than $200,000 worth of political consulting and fund-raising contracts her way. Several of her clients are businesses and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats accused President Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress on Saturday of failing to do enough to prevent London-type bombing strikes on the nation's mass-transit system. They argued that while the government has dug deep into its financial pockets to bolster airline security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, relatively little has been done to better protect trains and buses. "In the past four years, the federal government has spent about $9 per flying passenger, but only 1 cent per transit passenger," Rep. Robert Menendez (news, bio, voting record) of New Jersey...

Bonilla’s ‘Dream’ fails to meet goal By Dan Morgan The Washington Post WASHINGTON -- When Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, took charge of an independent political fund called American Dream PAC in 1999, he made clear that its mission was ”to give significant, direct financial assistance to first-rate minority GOP candidates.” Since then, only $48,750, or 8.9 percent, of the $547,000 the southwest Texas congressman has raised for his political action committee has gone to minority office-seekers while more than $100,000 has been routed to Republican Party organizations or causes, including a GOP redistricting effort in Texas, a legal defense fund...

Democrats, looking to capitalize on President Bush's decision to oppose the University of Michigan's affirmation action program, began a campaign Friday to make civil rights and equal education opportunities a major 2004 election issue. "Civil rights has always been the great unfinished business of America," Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told a Capitol Hill Democratic forum. Democrats have been criticizing the GOP on civil rights issues since December, when Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi started an uproar with remarks praising the pro-segregation 1948 presidential campaign of Strom Thurmond. Then the Bush administration argued to the Supreme Court on Thursday against...